Former Gov. Mike Easley testified that he didn't know much of anything about how his campaign worked.

He didn't count the money and only called potential donors when he was forced to by his fundraisers. His campaign must now forfeit $100,000 — $60,000 to pay for flights and $40,000 as a penalty.

As of June 30, Easley's campaign had $121,984 in its account, according to campaign finance records.

Board chairman Larry Leake said its very easy for campaigns to spend all their money, which would make it difficult to collect assessments from the Board of Elections.

That's why, Leake said, the board is recommending to the General Assembly that state law be changed to make a candidate personally liable for such penalties.

"Candidates do not accept sufficient responsibility and ownership of their campaigns," Leake said.

   Comments (0)